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“Well, we can’t live there full time because you still want to work—although if you ever decided you wanted to stop, you know that would be all right with me.”
I shook my head. We had discussed this. “I like my job,” I said. “I love what I do. I’m not going to give it up just because we don’t need the money.”
“That’s fine,” Brian said. “But there are still vacations to think about, right?”
“Fijian vacations.” I grinned. “I can’t believe you bought that house!”
“Well, I thought you deserved a gift,” he said.
“For what?”
“For giving me a beautiful daughter. I saw everything you went through bringing her into this world, and you ought to have a gift from me to thank you for all that.”
“Oh, Brian… you didn’t have to. You know she’s a gift to me too.”
But I liked the gesture. It was romantic—he was honoring me for carrying his child, which was very sweet. And I couldn’t deny that I was also very excited about the house. The infinity pool and the giant bed were ours now, and we could stay there any time we wanted. It couldn’t have been any better.
“When can we go?” I asked eagerly.
He laughed. “Kylie’s still a bit young to have her first Fijian vacation. Maybe in a few months, we’ll go check the place out. And now that it’s ours, we can remodel it if you want to. Get new furniture.”
“As long as we don’t replace the master bed,” I said. “But we should wall off a section of the upstairs to be a bedroom for Kylie, maybe.”
“Or just add another wing onto the house,” Brian said.
That hadn’t even occurred to me. “Can we do that?”
“Sure we can. It’s our house. We can do whatever we want.”
Even though I had been living with Brian for nearly a year, it still surprised me sometimes that we had the means to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it. I had always known he was wealthy, but living with his money was something else.
I had to admit. It was pretty nice.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” I said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am. Our very own Fijian villa! And Kylie will grow up playing on the beach, and maybe we’ll have another baby in a few years.” I could see it all unfolding before me, a beautiful future with my beloved family. How could I have gotten so lucky?”
“I bought you something else, too.”
“Oh, my God. What are you doing? I only gave birth to one of your children. This surprise had better not be another house.”
He laughed. “It isn’t a house,” he swallowed hard. “It’s something even better. Well, I think it is, anyway. I’m not sure if you’re going to like it.”
“What is it?”
He reached into his bathrobe pocket and drew out a small, square box.
I gasped. I recognized the shape of that box. “Brian,” I breathed.
“This is a long time coming,” he said. “And before I do this—I want you to know that I spoke to your father, and he’s given us his blessing. He’s nearly as happy about it as I am.”
Dad had come a long way. I wanted to say something, to ask about the conversation the two most important men in my life had had, but I couldn’t find words. I felt tears start to come to my eyes. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Brian opened the ring box to reveal a beautiful square-cut diamond solitaire. “Alison Barrett, will you please marry me?”
“I thought you didn’t want to get married,” I managed. “I thought you were happy with the arrangement we had.”
“Yeah, I thought that too,” he said. “But I want to know you’re mine in every way a woman can belong to a man. I want us to be a real, official family and to share the same last name. I want Kylie to grow up with parents who are married to each other. I love all of it. Say yes, Alison, please.”
“Of course, it’s yes,” I breathed. “Of course. What else could I possibly say?”
